13/11/2017 BBC News at Six

Tonight at Six.

The government has guaranteed that

Parliament will be given a vote

on the final Brexit deal.

In what's being seen

as a concession, MPs will be given

a chance to debate the bill.

There will be new legislation for

MPs to debate.

We'll have legislation that

puts it into effect,

in other words the House will be

able to go through it line by line

and agree it line by line.

These questions have been

pressing for months.

This last-minute attempt

to climb down brings them

into very sharp focus.

If MPs vote against the deal

the Government says we'll

still leave the EU,

but without an agreement.

Also tonight.

The moment an earthquake struck

the Iran-Iraq border.

More than 350 people dead

and thousands injured.

The British citizen jailed in Iran.

For the first time Boris Johnson

admits making a mistake over how

he's handled the case.

A warning from climate

change scientists.

Global warming emissions are set

to rise again this year

after a three-year lull.

"Waste not, want not."

If only that were true,

every year we throw away

10 million tonnes of food.

Coming up in Sportsday on BBC News.

Could moments like this be a thing

of the past for Italy?

The four-time winners stand

on the verge of missing out

on next year's World Cup.

Good evening and welcome

to the BBC News at Six.

Ever since the Brexit vote MPs

on all sides of the Commons have

been demanding a greater say

in how it's achieved.

Today the Government appears to have

offered a major concession.

The Brexit Secretary David Davis

says a vote on the final

deal will be guaranteed

by a new piece of legislation.

Labour has called it "a climb-down".

But the offer came with a warning.

If MPs do vote against the deal,

whatever it is, Britain

will still leave the EU,

but without an agreement.

Our political editor

Laura Kuenssberg is in

Westminster this evening.

A mess in the making. Tory rebels

and Labour were on course to beat

the government. But avoid defeat,

MPs will have more of a say. A vote

on the actual Brexit deal, as we are

about to leave.

I can now confirm

that once we've reached an agreement

will bring forward a specific piece

of legislation to implement that

agreement. Parliament will be given

time to debate, scrutinised and vote

on the final agreement we strike

with the European Union. This

agreement will only hold if

Parliament approves that.

Giving in

to some Tory and Labour demands that

Parliament to have a proper

decision, if and when a deal is

done.

It's a recognition by the

government that it is about to lose

a series of votes on the withdrawal

bill. These questions have been

pressing for months, this

last-minute attempt to climb down

rings them into very sharp focus and

we are entitled to clear and souls.

Stop Brexit!

In other words what

took you so long to admit that

Parliament would need a make or

break Brexit moment?

Stop Brexit!

There has been fierce resistance all

along to the laws already going

through the Commons. This new idea

takes the wind out of the rebels'

sales. But if there is no deal in no

time will there be no vote?

If we

run out of time, the time has to be

extended under Article 50 so that

all parties are able to deal with

it.

Can he confirmed that in the

event of no agreement, no deal, this

place will have no say and we will

leave on that date because it's on

the face of the bill, without any

say from this supposedly sovereign

Parliament which voted to take back

control?

While Parliamentary

involvement is essential, this isn't

and never should have been construed

an opportunity to reverse Brexit, to

return the UK to the EU, or go

behind the wishes of the British

people as expressed in the

referendum.

It matters not so much

here but in the real world. European

business bigwigs in number ten

today, to make it plain to the Prime

Minister. Jobs, millions of families

livelihoods, depend on her getting

Brexit right.

Laura, just to be clear, vote or no

vote, Britain will still leave the

EU, is that right?

This concession

to try to buy off Tory rebels is not

about that most fundamental of

questions, whether we actually go

ahead and leave the EU, or whether

there is an attempt by the back door

to make us stay in. That's not what

this climb-down is really about. But

this is about or not the shape of

the Brexit deal, that will change

our country for decades to come, is

subject to a separate act of

Parliament. A separate set of new

laws that MPs and Lords will have to

vote on, separate pieces of

legislation that actually line by

line our elected representatives

will have the chance to say yes or

no to the deal. On that fundamental

basic question, this doesn't change

whether or not we're going to leave

the European Union. But what it is

about is about trying to placate

rebels in the Tory party and Labour

and other parties and opponents who

have said time and again that the

government hasn't given people

enough of a chance to have their

say. They haven't wanted Parliament

to have a real role in scrutinising

the deal as and when it eventually

comes. There are big unanswered

question is here. Will it be enough

to calm down MPs who have been

really grumpy about how the

government is proceeding? I think

that is an open question tonight.

What happens if there isn't actually

a deal with the other 27? If there

isn't a deal then there can't be an

act of Parliament on the deal said

the other alternative and therefore

we crash out after all. But the

government hopes is this has taken

some of the steam out of those who

were bruising for a fight in

Parliament this week. It has

certainly turned down the tone of

some of the opposition. The

government is kidding themselves

that they think the fight is over

how we leave have disappeared.

Thank

you.

More than 400 people have been

killed in a powerful earthquake that

struck the northern border

of Iran and Iraq.

Another 4,000 were injured

and the casualty figure is expected

to rise on both sides of the border.

A major rescue operation is under

way but it is being hampered

by landslides and power cuts.

The epicentre of the quake,

which measured 7.3, was just under

20 miles south of Halabja.

One of the worst hit

areas was Sarpol-e Zahab,

as James Robbins reports.

The moment the Earth

starts shaking violently.

A man runs for his life

from the control room of this

dam, as massive boulders

are hurled around outside.

The dam wall was not breached

but elsewhere devastation.

In Iran, the border town

of Sarpol-e Zahab was hit hardest.

As entire walls collapsed,

many families did manage

to flee their homes,

but others were crushed or buried.

At a local hospital, there were many

stories of narrow escape.

TRANSLATION:

I fell

from the balcony down.

The earthquake was very strong.

TRANSLATION:

The earthquake

shattered the window which fell

on me and it wounded my hand

and my face.

Rescue has been made more difficult

by the mountainous terrain.

Iranian authorities are pouring

resources in but landslides

and power cuts are slowing both

rescue efforts and the task

of establishing the full

extent of casualties.

This quake was 7.3 in magnitude,

and happened in a known danger zone.

The surface of the Earth is made up

of tectonic plates, and in this case

the Arabian plate has been moving

roughly northwards

against the Eurasian plate

at a rate of two centimetres,

just under an inch a year.

Forces build up and eventually

are very suddenly released

with devastating effect.

The destruction in Iran is greater

than in neighbouring Iraq,

where a major rescue operation

is also underway.

The BBC's correspondent is there.

This area is one of the hardest hit

in Iraq by Sunday's earthquake.

We are told seven people were inside

this home when it collapsed.

Two of them were killed

and others were injured.

Several other buildings suffered

similar damage to this one,

but fortunately they seem to be

the exception rather than the rule,

and most of the other homes

in the region managed to withstand

the impact of the earthquake.

For the survivors,

night-time is the toughest.

In rapidly falling temperatures,

families are huddled around fires.

Even where buildings are intact,

fear of after-shocks will keep

people outdoors.

James Robbins, BBC News.

The Foreign Secretary,

Boris Johnson, has admitted

for the first time that he made

a mistake in his handling

of the case of Nazanin

Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British

citizen who is being

held in prison in Iran.

Following renewed criticism

from Labour, he also confirmed

that he would be meeting

Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe's husband

in London this week.

Our special correspondent, Lucy

Manning, has been speaking to him.

SINGS.

A mother singing with her daughter,

just a week before her arrest

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has now

been separated from three-year-old

Gabriella for a year and a half.

With her health deteriorating in and

Iranians prison and the words of

politicians here appearing to harm

her case, her husband has this

message to the Foreign Secretary.

I

want you to solve this mess. It's

not a mess that entirely the Foreign

Secretary's making but it is a mess

that his name has been touched it

and is getting deeper and more

complicated because of that.

He will

take his requests to a meeting with

the Foreign Secretary this week.

When you go to Iran at like to be on

that plane, I'd like to be standing

next to you for the symbolism that

has. The second thing is that

Nazanin is given diplomatic

protection.

Mr Johnson and Michael

Gove less than clear in backing the

family 's account that Mrs

Zaghari-Ratcliffe was visiting

relatives when she was arrested.

When you look at what Nazanin

Zaghari-Ratcliffe was doing, she was

simply teaching people journalism,

as I understand it.

What was she

doing when she went to Iran?

I do

know.

The Foreign Secretary said her

imprisonment cast a shadow over UK

Iranians relations but he recognised

the family's distress.

The words I

used were open to being

misinterpreted and I apologise. I

apologise to Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe

and her family if I've inadvertently

cause them any further anguish.

Labour said he needed to admit it

got it wrong.

It's not good enough.

If it is a matter of pride that the

Foreign Secretary is refusing to

admit that he's made a mistake, I

feel bound to say to him that his

pride matters not one ounce compared

to Nazanin's freedom.

Ministers are

considering if diplomatic protection

can be given to Mrs

Zaghari-Ratcliffe which would turn

it from a consumer issue into a more

serious dispute. It's not clear if

this would help her. Mrs

Zaghari-Ratcliffe's employers were

insistent her job was

administrative.

We don't work in a

run and we have no relations with

Iran. On top of that she was really

on holiday. She's not spy material

at.

Young Gabriella cried when her

visit to her mum in weekend was cut

short. -- visit to Hamon imprisoned

this weekend was cut short.

A man has been found guilty

of carrying out an acid attack

in a packed London club which left

16 people seriously injured.

This is the moment

when Arthur Collins,

the ex-boyfriend of reality TV star

Ferne McCann, threw the substance

at the Mangle nightclub

in East London in April.

The 25-year-old was convicted

at Wood Green Crown Court

of 14 charges, including

grievous bodily harm.

The chair of Parliament's spending

watching has called for a police

investigation after BBC Panorama

uncovered evidence of fraud

in the student loan system.

Panorama has uncovered scams

that could be costing

the taxpayer millions of pounds.

Richard Watson reports.

Imran Shaikh is an education agent

who we were told was up to his neck

in fraud.

He offered to get Panorama's

undercover students

thousands of pounds of student loan

money we were not entitled to.

The fee for faking attendance and

supplying assignments, £1500 paid

out of our student loan money every

year we are on the course.

From the evidence you have

shown me, there is

clear fraud going on and it needs

to be referred to the police.

He arranged for us to get

on an HND diploma course

at Grafton College in central

London.

But our cover story was that our

student left school at

16 and did not have the

right qualifications.

Another agent called Raza,

who works for him, had an idea.

A fraudulent certificate

was made out in our

undercover student's name.

It was apparently supplied by

an awarding body based on the floor

above Grafton College.

For the National Union

of Students, crooked

agents are damaging UK education.

I am totally and

utterly disappointed

and disgusted that these people,

these fraudsters, are actually

exploiting students at the detriment

of them wanting a degree to be able

to progress in society.

The government needs to do more

in regulating these types of

institutions.

Grafton College and the awarding

body both say they are

unaware of any

fraudulent activities.

The College says that although Raza

and Imran are on its

premises from time to time, they

are not authorised to act as agents.

Neither of the agents

responded to our allegations.

Richard Watson, BBC News.

And you can see more of Richard's

investigation on tonight's Panorama

at 7.30pm on BBC One.

The time is a quarter past six.

Our top story this evening...

The government has guaranteed that

parliament will be given a vote

on the final Brexit deal.

And still to come...

Exploring identity at school -

the Church of England says kids

should be able to wear

what they want without jugdement.

Coming up in Sportsday

on BBC News...

"I knew I was going to die" -

the miraculous story of one surfer

who is returning to the water,

having survived two

days stranded at sea.

Global carbon dioxide emissions

are projected to rise

for the first time in four years.

Scientists at a United Nations

climate conference in Germany say

the main cause of the expected

growth has been greater use of coal

in China as its economy expands.

Researchers say cuts are needed

to avoid dangerous global

warming later this century,

as our science editor,

David Shukman, explains.

For more than a week now the people

of Delhi had been suffering in air

that has become toxic, smog created

by countless engines burning fossil

fuels including coal. Coal is one of

the biggest sources of pollution

worldwide. Power stations like this

one in Poland belch out gases

including carbon dioxide and despite

promises to clean up, emissions are

actually increasing. For countries

in the path of devastating Harry

Kane is like the ones that struck

the Caribbean earlier this year,

this is depressing -- devastating

hurricane aims. It seems that little

is being done to stop global

warming.

This is very worrying for

us, I would hate to say that it

sounds a death but it translate into

that given we have had such an

active hurricane season this season.

This new research finds that more

and more, Burke said is being

released from power stations,

factories and different forms of

transport -- more and more carbon

dioxide. This shows how emissions of

carbon dioxide have risen over three

decades. In the last few years they

have been levelling off which was

seen as a positive sign but this

year there has suddenly been an

increase of 2% so what is happening

and who is to blame around the

world? In America, emissions of

carbon dioxide have fallen slightly

and that is despite President Trump

wanting to leave the Paris

agreement. In Europe they are on

course to be down as well but in

China they are up as the economy

picks up and more coal is burned.

Climate scientists say it is vital

that less coal is used if we are to

have any chance of heading off the

worst of global warming will stop

President Trump is promoting the

coal industry and he wants America

to help other countries to use it.

There are countries that have said

that coal is going to be part of our

energy mix for the foreseeable

future, many in Asia and some in

Africa as well, and they have been

clear that because coal is going to

be part of their energy mix in the

future, they want support for clean

coal technology.

There is now a

battle over a few will that many

economies rely on. There are plans

to make coal cleaner, to use it

without releasing carbon dioxide,

but this is not much of a reality so

far and in the meantime there are

warnings that emissions need to fall

rapidly, not rise, as they are now.

MPs in Westminster have

been debating a budget

for Northern Ireland,

after ten months without a devolved

executive at Stormont.

The power sharing government

collapsed in January,

and since then the DUP and Sinn Fein

have failed to agree a deal

to restore devolution.

Our Ireland correspondent Chris

Buckler is at Stormont tonight.

After all this time, presumably

Northern Ireland need a budget and

quickly?

Absolutely, public services

here are starting to run out of cash

and that includes departments like

health and education so without a

power-sharing executive here,

Westminster has had no choice but to

step in and legislate for a budget.

Theresa May has been clear that she

believes this is a one-off decision

and not the introduction of what is

known as direct rule is where London

would take over the running of the

apartments here in Belfast and she

believed the DUP and Sinn Fein can

come to an agreement that would see

them return to government in the

building behind me but frankly that

is not looking likely. The DUP have

said they believed direct rule could

return sometime in a matter of weeks

and Sinn Fein are insisting that the

current talks to overcome the

difficulties are now over and they

want the British and Irish

governments to come to some kind of

partnership agreement to fill the

void. In the meantime, Northern

Ireland is stuck in a kind of limbo,

halfway between devolution and

direct rule. The one thing the two

parties agree on is that

power-sharing is not likely to

return any time soon.

Thank you.

Bob Geldof has returned his freedom

of the city of Dublin in protest

against the Burmese leader Aung San

Suu Kyi who was given the same

honour. He described the treatment

of the Rohingya Muslim minority

community as mass ethnic cleansing

and he said his home city had

honoured Aung San Suu Kyi but now

she had shamed Dublin.

The Church of England

is telling its schools that

children should be free

to explore their identity and that

both boys and girls should be

free to wear a tutu,

tiara or tool belt without judgment.

The updated guidelines aim

to prevent children being bullied

because of their sexual orientation

or gender identity.

Here's our religious affairs

correspondent Martin Bashir.

Dressing up is not just a favourite

activity for the reception class

at this London church primary

school, it's also part

of the curriculum designed

to encourage individuality

and discourage bullying.

The Church of England has

updated its advice for its 4700

schools to protect children who may

be considering transition

from one gender to another.

Being an individual is very

important and respecting everybody's

right to be an individual is very

important to us.

So if children aren't themselves

then they cannot be free

to learn, and that's key.

The new guidelines say children

should be allowed to try many cloaks

of identity without being labelled

and that a child may choose

the tutu, princess's tiara,

or a fireman's helmet

without expectation or comment.

Today's guidance is designed

to prevent bullying in schools

like this, but on the issue of human

sexuality, there is deep division

within the Church of England

and some evangelical Christians see

today's announcement as an attempt

to erode the authority

of the Bible and embrace

an ever-changing culture.

What people expect the Church

of England to do is to set forth

the framework for living as set out

in the Bible.

That way all made wonderfully

in the image of God,

male and female, and the Church

of England today seems

to have failed in its duty

to say that to the nation.

But the Archbishop of Canterbury,

who expressed his support

for the new guidance in writing

and on social media,

rejects this criticism,

saying no child should be diminished

by being reduced to

a stereotype or a problem.

Martin Bashir, BBC

News, central London.

This may not be what you want to see

as you sit down to a meal.

But we throw away around 10 million

tonnes of food each year,

and according to experts much

of it is good enough to eat.

There is waste throughout

the food supply chain,

but it's thought that the biggest

problem lies with consumers

and campaigners are urging us

to be much more careful

about what we throw away,

as Jeremy Cooke explains.

OK, it is past its sell by date.

But this is, or was, food.

What's this?

Sushi.

Grown, produced,

processed, and discarded.

A super-sized serving

of stinking waste.

It's amazing how much food is thrown

out and it's amazing how long it's

taken the message to get through.

If you don't have to

eat it, don't buy it.

The striking thing here

is the tonnes of food waste

that we all throw away all the time.

This stuff has come from bars

and restaurants and businesses

and there are mountains of it piling

up here every day.

Across the country,

we throw away 10 million

tonnes of food every year.

That's £17 billion worth in the bin.

And we're told 60%

of that is avoidable -

food that could have and should

have been eaten.

There is waste through

the entire supply chain.

From in the field,

in the manufacturing,

in the restaurant, in the retail,

in the supermarket, distribution,

and in the kitchen at home.

Overproduction is a fact

of the modern food industry.

Most of the surplus - good,

nutritious stuff - goes to waste.

But here there's another way.

All this, if it wasn't

for Fareshare, would end

up going in the bin.

At the Fareshare charity,

they take the surplus and use

it to feed the hungry.

The thing that really drives us nuts

is it is going to waste

while there are people going hungry.

We feed at the moment half

a million people a week,

half a million people a week,

with this food.

We do that to 7000 front line

charity and community groups.

Which is good news here

at the Melton Learning Hub,

where disadvantaged kids get

good, fresh food.

For our kids it means

they get hot meal.

They definitely get

a hot meal every day.

Lots of different circumstances

the young people come to us

in and it is a brilliant way

of using food that would,

as you say, go to waste.

But Luke and his mates know

that this is the exception.

Most surplus food is

simply thrown away.

This stuff, if it was like left

on the shelf, it would get put

into storage and get put

in landfills and that

and that's not good.

Tackling the issue will mean dumping

less food and doing more

with whatever goes in the bin.

Here it is used to make valuable

fertiliser to generate

gas and electricity.

But most of our discarded food

still goes to the incinerator

or to landfill - perhaps

the definition of waste

in a hungry world.

Jeremy Cooke, BBC News.

We'll have more on waste

tomorrow, looking at

the ways we can reduce it.

Time for a look at the weather.

Here's Phil Avery.

A beautiful picture but I guess it

means it is pretty nippy.

It was this morning, the milder air

from the Atlantic brought this in

parts of Scotland and at the same

time further south the cold air gave

a glorious start. But there is

something of a transition already in

hand as the mild air that was always

around has pushed to the north of

Britain ranked stoop weather fronts

that have changed the wind

direction. Sunday was all about the

northerly, but no longer the -5 of

last night, plus five or more for

many parts about from maybe Scotland

which has the best of the sunshine

to start the day. Some rain in the

Western Isles, but the south and

Central Belt, we picked up the cloud

and it thickens up in the North of

England, East Anglia and across the

Midlands and Wales. Only in the

southern counties might see a bit of

brightness to start the day. The

theory is that we will drag that

cloud further south, all the while

with the breeze from the west, it

might break up coming over the hills

of Wales and the Pennines but no

doubt the best sunshine is in

Scotland. Relatively mild compared

to today. But it comes at a price,

fog on Wednesday morning could be

dense in patches in the South of

England and Wales. The best of the

sunshine further north. As the day

gets going, some of the cloud and

fog will lift, some brightness in

parts of England and Wales and in

Scotland you have that weather front

coming back at you in the West but

Italy but it is relatively mild --

particularly.

That's all from the BBC News at Six

so it's goodbye from me

and on BBC One we now join the BBC's

news teams where you are.